I wanted to relate to you my experience this morning, directing a small schola of young people singing the Simple English Propers at Mass.

The schola consisted of a treble boy (age 12) and four female trebles (ages 16, 16, 17, and 21). The pastor of the parish recently suggested to me that we do something more for our daily Masses when they are feasts or solemnities. My mind immediately went to the Simple English Propers. Today we gathered at 7:15, rehearsed the propers, a psalm by Aristotle Esguerra, and an Alleluia by Fr. Samuel Weber. With five singers whose experience with plainsong is very limited, we prepared them to a satisfactory level in 25 minutes, and sang Mass at 8AM. It was quite lovely and a welcome switch from four hymns. We closed the Mass singing “Immaculate Mary”.

For those who are looking for a way to get started singing the propers, I can’t recommend SEP enough. I fully expect this little ensemble to improve in their ability to read and sing plainsong, and to be able to sing the propers from the Graduale Romanum for Solemnities, while singing the SEP for Feast Days.

If I must make a criticism, it’s that there are propers for all Solemnities, but not all Feast Days. For example, for the Birth of Mary today I had to search for the propers in the SEP, as the Birth of Mary isn’t offered....so I had to piece it together. Perhaps this is something that could be rectified in a second edition. For the time being, I am simply ecstatic at this excellent resource.